F 

837 


THE  WORK  OF  THE 

WESTERN  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  NEVADA 


BY 


JEANNE  ELIZABETH  WIER 


Reprinted  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association 
for  1910,  pages  199-208 


WASHINGTON 
1912 


THE  WORK  OF  THE 

WESTERN  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY 

AS  ILLUSTRATED  BY  NEVADA 


BY 


JEANNE  ELIZABETH  WIER 


Reprinted  from  the  Annual  Report  of  the  American  Historical  Association 
for  1910,  pages  199-208 


WASHINGTON 
1912 


Bancroft  iibrary 


XIII,  THE  WORK  OF  THE  WESTERN  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  AS 
ILLUSTRATED  BY  NEVADA, 


BY  JEANNE  ELIZABETH  WIER, 

Secretary  of  the  Nevada  Historical  Society  and  Professor 
of  History  in  the  University  of  Nevada. 


199 


Bancroft  Library 


THE  WORK  OF  THE  WESTERN  STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY  AS  ILLUS- 
TRATED BY  NEVADA. 


By  JEANNE  ELIZABETH  WIER. 


The  history  of  Nevada  abounds  in  materials  for  historical  inves- 
tigation and  interpretation.  Its  conception  as  a  Territory  in  that 
miraculous  union  of  the  East  and  the  West  which  followed  the  dis- 
covery of  gold  in  California  in  the  days  of  '49;  its  premature  birth 
into  statehood  through  the  throes  of  civil  war;  its  struggle  as  a  weak- 
ling through  the  years  of  depression  and  reconstruction ;  the  maturing 
of  its  life  with  its  rebirth  a  few  years  since — these  are  topics  of  more 
than  local  interest.  They  are  fraught  with  significance  to  the  Nation, 
and  as  yet  are  but  vaguely  understood.  In  her  sociological  life 
Nevada  has  too  often  been  the  butt  of  criticism  and  denunciation 
rather  than  an  object  of  study  and  a  growing  comprehension  of  the 
deep-lying  causes  which  have  thus  expressed  themselves  in  her  life. 

It  is,  therefore,  not  because  of  paucity  of  historical  materials  that 
I  have  chosen  to  use  this  opportunity  to  invite  your  attention  to  a 
problem  the  solution  of  which  it  would  seem  lies  at  the  heart  of  all 
future  prosperity  in  the  historical  work  of  the  Pacific  coast. 

In  defining  the  scope  of  this  paper,  let  us  notice  first  that  the  ques- 
tion is  not  one  of  anatomy  but  of  physiology.  While  the  western 
historical  society  may  differ  from  its  eastern  sister  to  some  extent 
in  its  mechanism,  still  here,  as  in  other  institutions,  the  vital  question 
is  not*of  form  but  of  function.  This  is  the  more  important  in  com- 
paring two  widely  different  sections  of  our  country,  since  an  eastern 
institution  when  transplanted  to  Nevada,  for  instance,  is  beyond 
doubt  modified  in  its  action  by  local  conditions.  In  the  second  place, 
the  word  " western"  is  here  employed  in  a  different  sense  from  the 
ordinary  understanding  of  the  term  as  currently  used  in  New  England 
and  New  York,  or  for,  instance,  in  the  classification  of  universities, 
as  meaning  everything  this  side  of  the  Alleghenies.  Any  classifica- 
tion of  American  historical  societies  like  that  of  the  universities 
falls  naturally  into  three  groups:  First,  those  east  of  the  Alleghenies, 
supported  for  the  most  part  by  large  private  endowments  and  gifts; 
second,  those  of  the  Mississippi  Valley,  State-supported  in  sentiment 
and  money  alike;  third,  those  of  the  Pacific  slope,  seeking  State  sup- 
port, but  for  the  most  part  not  as  yet  on  very  solid  ground. 

201 


202  AMERICAN   HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

Since  "west "  is  usually  in  the  broader  sense  associated  with  pioneer 
conditions,  the  societies  of  the  third  class  alone  would  seem  rightfully 
to  belong  to  the  western  group.  Comparisons  will  be  made,  then, 
between  this  distinctly  western  group  and  the  other  two  divisions. 

The  Nevada  institution  is  not  considered  as  a  type  in  the  sense 
of  being  an  average  representative.  It  is  chosen  because  of  the 
writer 's  f amiliarit}^  with  its  work  and  because,  since  in  Nevada  west- 
ern conditions  are  exaggerated,  the  difficulties  of  western  historical 
work  are  here  most  clearly  to  be  seen  and  appreciated.  Some  tunes 
I  have  fancied  that  as  the  life  of  this  desert  State  originated  in  a 
grand  sacrifice,  so  throughout  her  history  mayhap  she  is  destined  to 
perform  her  mission  to  the  Union  through  the  lessons  inculcated 
by  her  adversities.  Out  of  her  problems  of  quartz  mining  grew  the 
present  United  States  mining  laws;  out  of  her  barrenness  has  come 
an  appreciation  of  the  need  of  national  irrigation  projects;  out  of  her 
struggles  in  an  historical  way  may  perchance  come  a  more  united 
effort  for  the  conservation  of  historical  forces. 

All  local  and  State  historical  organizations  are  alike  in  having  for 
their  chief  function  the  collecting  and  preserving  of  lu'storical  data. 
All  alike  seek  to  investigate  topics  pertaining  to  the  history  of  the 
State  or  locality,  and,  as  far  as  may  be,  to  publish  the  results  in  per- 
manent form.  All  alike  have  had  to  overcome  many  obstacles  in 
their  first  years,  for  all  alike  have  been  regarded  at  first  as  a  luxury 
rather  than  a  necessity.  Here  the  similarity  ends. 

I  shall  seek  now  to  outline  the  differences  of  the  three  geographical 
sections:  First,  as  to  the  materials  for  historical  research;  second,  as 
to  equipment  for  handling  those  materials. 

The  question  of  data  is  one  of  quantity,  one  of  quality,  and  one 
of  location.  With  respect  to  quantity,  it  is  at  once  apparent  to  the 
careful  observer  that  our  materials  are  scant  as  compared  with  those 
of  the  eastern  and  central  regions.  Not  only  is  the  West  as  a  whole 
newer  in  historic  life  than  is  the  East,  but  the  migratory  habits  of 
its  people  have  tended  to  destroy  even  that  which  once  existed  of 
historical  data.  The  extreme  of  this  condition  is  to  be  found  in 
Nevada,  where  the  t}^pical  mining  camp  is  the  victim  of  fires  at  such 
frequent  intervals  as  almost  to  preclude  the  possibility  of  securing 
a  complete  file  of  any  local  records.  Again,  when  not  destroyed 
by  fire,  such  camps  are  of  times  abandoned,  or,  more  frequently  still, 
moved  to  the  site  of  a  new  bonanza,  and  this  as  readily  as  is  the 
Indian  campoodie  or  village  near  by.  In  such  a  removal  only  those 
things  which  are  of  utilitarian  value  are  saved.  The  little  printing 
press  follows,  as  it  always  has  done,  the  line  of  progress  and  discovery, 
but  leaves  too  often  its  past  achievement  behind.  I  have  sometimes 
thought  that  I  should  like  to  write  the  history  of  one  of  these  printing 
presses  of  the  desert  which,  like  its  owner,  has  been  identified  with 


THE  WESTERN   STATE  HISTORICAL  SOCIETY.  203 

the  life  of  so  many  of  our  most  prominent  camps.  Even  the  county 
courthouse  is  not  a  fixture,  but  moves  around  for  the  accommodation 
of  the  bonanzas.  What  missing  links  are  here,  and  we  only  marvel 
that  the  gaps  are  not  greater  when  we  recall  the  inadequate  means 
of  transportation  which  until  recently  obtained  in  the  desert  country. 
In  the  next  place,  the  materials  are  scant  because  much  of  the 
history  of  the  smaller  camps  has  never  been  recorded  in  writing. 
To  many  the  printing  press  has  never  come.  Ever  and  anon  out  of 
such  isolated  hamlets  has  come  a  hand-written  sheet  done  by  some 
miner  in  the  evening  hours  by  the  light  of  a  miner's  candle,  reflecting 
but  dimly  the  corporate  life  of  the  community.  Of  such  a  nature 
was  the  famous  Scorpion  issued  from  the  old  log  cabin  at  Mormon 
Station  in  Carson  County  in  the  early  fifties.  Sad  to  relate,  not  a 
copy  of  it  exists  to-day,  but  the  Nevada  Historical  Society  has  later 
products  of  the  same  editorial  impulse  now  within  its  archives.  And 
then  again  there  is  the  camp  where  not  even  the  manuscript  record 
exists,  where  no  written  record  is  ever  made,  save  in  the  occasional 
letter  penned  to  some  friend  on  the  outside,  or  the  wildcatting 
article  sent  by  a  promoter  to  an  outside  newspaper  in  the  vain  hope 
of  attracting  others  to  the  lonely  spot.  And  even  in  those  more 
populous  camps  where  papers  spring  up  like  mushrooms  in  the  night, 
two  or  three  at  a  time,  even  here  the  spirit  of  gain  so  overshadows 
the  life  of  the  community  that  its  real  history  is  seldom  written  or 

preserved.  Ban.CTQft  LlbWt 

Of  formal  history  in  such  a  State  as  Nevada  there  is  little  or  ever 
has  been,  and  that  little  has  been  produced  as  one  of  the  many 
wildcat  schemes  to  drag  from  the  successful  miner  a  goodly  portion 
of  his  hoard  of  gold  in  return  for  a  page  of  type  and  a  full-page 
portrait  of  himself.  A  3-foot  shelf  would  hold  all  such  works  many 
times  over. 

As  to  quality,  the  newspaper  is  a  proverbially  unreliable  source 
of  historical  knowledge,  albeit  a  valuable  adjunct  even  in  the  Eastern 
States;  yet  how  totally  dependent  are  we  in  the  West  upon  the 
newspaper  and  the  book  of  travels  written  by  the  casual  tourist. 
In  the  larger  centers  of  western  life  is  found  the  more  stable  literature 
of  the  magazine,  but  in  States  like  Nevada  mining  pays  better  than 
literature,  and  every  attempt  at  magazine  publication  has  thus  far 
ended  in  failure.  It  is  true  that  the  " battle-born"  State  has  had 
its  journalists  of  note;  its  J.  T.  Goodman,  its  C.  C.  Goodwin,  its 
H.  R.  Mighels,  its  Dan  De  Quille,  its  Samuel  Clemens.  For  it  was 
on  the  Territorial  Enterprise  at  Virginia  City  that  Mark  Twain  won 
his  spurs,  and  of  a  truth,  his  " Roughing  It"  is  the  best  history  of 
the  State  which  has  thus  far  been  penned.  But  then  as  now,  in 
chronicling  events,  jest  was  mixed  with  earnest,  and  woe  to  the 


204  AMERICAN   HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

person  who  with  historical  scalpel  would  seek  to  separate  truth 
from  error. 

The  quality  of  our  western  history  is  again  impaired,  as  I  have 
already  intimated,  by  the  fact  that  much  of  it  has  been  written  to 
sell.  True,  the  same  thing  has  been  done  in  the  eastern  and  central 
regions,  especially  as  regards  county  history;  but  there  such  collec- 
tions are  local  ones  and  only  supplementary  to  the  history  of  the 
State.  Here  they  tend  to  displace  all  other  history.  Being  in  the 
nature  of  an  appeal  to  the  individual  pocketbook,  they  are  neces- 
sarily biographical  in  character.  Xo  mere  process  of  addition  will 
ever  be  able  to  convert  those  biographies  into  history.  It  is  true 
that  in  the  West  more  than  elsewhere  the  individual  has  counted 
for  much,  *as  is  the  tendency  in  every  pioneer  country,  and  here  better 
than  elsewhere  can  we  study  the  evolution  of  the  individual.  But 
in  America,  unlike  Europe,  the  historical  interest  is  in  the  masses, 
in  that  great  sea  of  humanity  in  which  the  individuals  appear  only 
as  types.  To  this  ideal  our  western  history  must  approximate  or 
fail  of  its  chief  purpose;  that  is,  the  defining  of  our  types  of  character. 
Let  us  not  seek  to  prolong  our  heroic  age  beyond  its  natural  ter- 
mination. 

And  then  as  to  the  location  of  our  historical  materials.  The 
East  has  passed  into  the  era  of  domestication.  Its  historical  food 
is  close  at  hand.  Its  task  is  merely  to  absorb.  The  West  is  still 
in  the  hunting  stage.  It  must  run  down  its  game  before  it  can  feast. 
What  the  result  of  its  hunt  may  be  is  of  great  significance  to  the  East 
as  well. 

In  the  East  are  States  several  of  which  could  be  set  down  side  by 
side  within  one  of  our  great  western  counties.  In  those  States  there 
is  always  at  least  one  nucleus  where  for  long  years  historical  ma- 
terials have  been  collected.  In  many  cases  there  are  several  such 
places  in  one  State.  Each  locality  has  a  collection  of  its  own  and  the 
student  has  no  very  difficult  task  before  him  when  he  seeks  to 
utilize  such  records.  In  the  central  States  such  collections  are  now 
being  made.  Here  in  California  much  similar  work  has  been  done. 
But  in  States  like  Nevada  the  materials  are  still  scattered  far  afield. 

Sometimes  as  I  have  gone  around  on  collecting  tours  under  burn- 
ing desert  sun  and  midst  winter  snow,  finding  few  of  the  comforts 
of  civilized  life,  yet  often  the  treasures  for  which  I  sought  in  manu- 
script or  in  the  memory  of  the  pioneer,  I  have  found  consolation  in 
the  thought  of  those  explorers  of  old  who  in  the  days  of  the  Italian 
renaissance  spared  neither  trouble  nor  expense,  for  whom  "no 
severity  of  winter  cold,  no  snow,  no  length  of  journey,  no  roughness 
of  roads/'  were  a  bar  in  the  search  for  the  things  of  antiquity.  The 
East  has  passed  through  the  first  stage  of  her  renaissance,  that  of 
passionate  desire;  through  the  second  one,  that  of  collection  and 


THE  WESTERN   STATE   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY.  205 

arrangement  and  the  foundation  of  libraries ;  she  is  now  in  the  third 
age  of  American  humanism,  the  age  of  the  critical  use  of  her  materials, 
and  of  the  establishment,  not  of  academies,  but  of  societies  for  critical 
study.  Here  in  the  West  we  are  but  just  coming  into  the  first  stage 
of  the  renaissance. 

We  grant  that  California,  with  her  splendid  universities,  her  or- 
ganizations of  native  sons  and  native  daughters,  her  pioneer  societies, 
her  greater  industrial  development,  has  kept  better  pace  with  the 
Eastern  States.  In  her  Bancroft  Library  she  has  a  store  of  materials 
over  which  a  modern  Petrarch  might  well  rejoice,  but  even  her  work 
of  collection  is  not  completed,  and  how  shall  she  think  to  write  her 
history  while  the  side  lights  from  the  remainder  of  the  Mexican 
cession  and  the  Oregon  Territory  remain  so  dim?  She  may  flatter 
herself  that  within  that  Bancroft  Library  repose  the  documents  of 
the  vast  Pacific  slope,  but  as  a  Nevadan  I  can  testify  that  but  a 
very  small  iota  of  the  history  of  that  Commonwealth  is  to  be  found 
in  the  collections  of  the  Bancroft  Library.  What  became  of  the 
manuscripts  so  carefully  collected  by  Mr.  Bancroft's  agents  in  Nevada 
we  may  perchance  never  know.  But  we  do  know  that  it  behooves 
us  to  seek  to  supply  that  deficiency  by  more  vigorous  work  in  re- 
duplicating the  materials  which  have  been  thus  lost.  And  we  do 
know  that  it  behooves  California,  whose  history  is  so  bound  up  with 
that  of  the  Washoe  country,  to  be  interested  also  in  the  recovery  of 
the  sources. 

I  come  now  to  the  consideration  of  the  second  great  difference 
between  the  East  and  the  West — the  equipment  for  the  handling  of 
historical  materials,  which  includes  equipment  for  gathering,  housing, 
cataloguing,  and  making  available  the  data  and  at  the  same  time 
creating  a  sentiment  for  their  critical  use.  The  difference  here  is  all 
the  difference  between  the  compactness  of  the  East  and  the  vast 
expanse  of  the  West,  the  difference  between  an  agricultural,  com- 
mercial, and  manufacturing  population  on  the  one  hand,  and  that 
migratory  one  of  the  "diggings"  and  the  camp  on  the  other.  As 
the  tide  of  population  has  rolled  over  these  vast  western  regions, 
it  has  left  here  and  there  an  isolated  settlement.  Under  such  con- 
ditions public  institutions  are  but  slowly  established,  social  con- 
sciousness is  but  tardily  matured.  In  a  State  where  each  individual 
man,  woman,  and  child  has  from  1  to  1J/^  square  miles  to  himself, 
how  are  you  to  evolve  a  common  consciousness  for  the  support  of 
institutions  for  the  common  good?  An  insane  asylum?  Yes;  and 
a  prison,  for  the  classes  which  are  thus  cared  for  are  alike  dangerous 
to  society.  An  orphan  asylum?  Yes;  for  the  miner's  heart  is 
proverbially  large  when  it  is  a  question  of  the  protection  of  the  weak. 
A  university?  Yes;  for  has  not  the  Federal  Government  offered 
us  an  inducement  to  create  an  institution  which  shall  bear  the  name 


206  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

of  university  and  draw  the  Federal  moneys  ?  An  historical  society  ? 
No;  for  what  practical  purpose  may  it  serve,  and  the  future  is  too 
far  distant.  Let  the  future  take  care  of  itself. 

In  the  East  the  historical  society  also  had  its  day  of  adversity,  but 
there  in  those  settled  peaceful  communities  the  pioneer  remained 
where  he  had  lived  his  life;  there  perhaps  he  bequeathed  his  property 
to  the  maintenance  of  historical  work;  there  a}so  the  universities  and 
colleges  of  the  cultural  type  added  the  weight  of  their  influence;  there 
the  newness  of  the  West  made  the  East  seem  old  and  revered  by  way 
of  contrast;  there  a  distinctly  literary  and  leisure  class  furnished 
leadership  in  the  enterprise.  The  Middle  West  caught  the  spirit  and 
again  there  was  an  era  of  struggle  while  social  consciousness  was  form- 
ing, and  then  the  era  of  triumph  hi  States  like  Wisconsin,  where  a  six 
hundred  thousand  dollar  building  is  now  thought  none  too  good  for 
the  State  historical  society. 

Here  hi  the  West  we  are  still  in  the  era  of  struggle.  In  States  like 
Nevada  many  of  our  pioneers  have  departed  with  their  wealth;  others 
are  so  widely  scattered  that  no  effective  organization  is  possible.  Our 
younger  population,  busy  with  the  charge  of  practical  work  ever  ex- 
ceeding its  power  of  accomplishment,  seeks  in  its  hours  of  relaxation 
not  instruction  but  amusement.  As  a  community,  therefore,  we  have 
not  reached  a  stage  where  we  conceive  of  historical  work  as  a  natural 
and  necessary  activity,  either  of  the  State  or  of  the  locality.  Unlike 
the  East,  we  have  no  prospect  of  large  private  endowments;  unlike 
the  central  region,  we  have  no  certain  support  from  the  State.  The 
Nevada  society,  though  a  State  institution,  has  during  the  past  two 
years  been  left  to  private  charity,  and  this  partly  through  indiffer- 
ence and  false  economy,  partly  through  blunders  on  the  part  of  clerks. 
The  aid  of  individuals  has  kept  alive  our  work,  but  at  what  a  sacrifice 
of  historical  data  only  those  at  the  wheel  may  guess.  This  situation 
has  been  duplicated  in  other  Western  States  at  other  times,  nor  is 
there  assurance  that  in  some  one  of  our  Western  States  it  may  not 
occur  again. 

As  provision  for  the  equipment  for  the  work  in  the  West  is  more 
precarious  than  in  the  East,  so,  also,  is  the  need  for  that  equipment 
the  more  urgent.  The  work  of  investigation  and  publication  may 
wait,  but  to  pause  in  the  collection  is  to  fail  in  our  most  important 
purpose.  This  work  must  be  done  now  or  never. 

It  would  seem,  therefore,  to  be  a  most  important  feature  of  the 
work  of  the  western  historical  society  to  seek  to  create  a  historical 
consciousness.  In  order  to  develop  a  true  interest  hi  the  past,  we 
must  interest  individual  citizens  in  the  things  of  the  present;  we 
must  seek  to  break  up  the  feeling  that  the  State  is  an  artificial  crea- 
tion; we  must  make  it  a  real  organic  thing  in  the  eyes  of  the  people,  a 
something  whose  past  history  is  precious  because  it  has  led  to  the 
present.  We  must  make  the  historical  society  so  minister  to  present 


THE  WESTERN   STATE   HISTORICAL  SOCIETY.  207 

needs  that  it  shall  make  the  citizens  of  to-day  more  capable  of  under- 
standing the  events  of  the  present.  They  must  be  made  to  feel  that 
because  of  its  existence  the  present  generation  will  have  greater  wis- 
dom of  decision  and  greater  sanity  of  action. 

And  while  it  is  thus  seeking  to  serve  it  must  be  cautious  lest  its  acts 
be  misinterpreted.  It  must  seek  to  maintain  a  balance  between  its 
ideal  of  work  and  that  which  present  conditions  make  possible— 
the  old  question  of  opportunism  or  principle.  It  must  prove  that  it 
is  not  a  mere  scheme  for  the  exploitation  of  State  revenues.  It  must 
create  confidence  and  trust  through  wise  leadership,  and  it  must  trans- 
form what  seems  like  private  or  personal  interests  into  public  policies. 
It  must  guard  against  the  appearance  of  the  demagogue.  Its  appeal 
must  be  to  the  people  and  not  to  the  mob.  It  must  keep  out  of  poli- 
tics, yet  remain  dependent  upon  politicians.  Its  connection  with  the 
State  is  of  the  very  essence  of  its  life,  or,  as  President  Pritchett  has 
said  of  our  State  university,  its  danger  and  its  opportunity.  Thus, 
while  it  seeks  to  gain  equipment  for  further  work  over  an  extensive 
and  costly  field,  it  must,  without  regular  funds,  cover  that  field  and 
show  by  example  what  may  be  accomplished  in  the  future.  State 
legislatures,  it  would  seem,  act  on  the  time-old  principle  that  "to  him 
that  hath  shall  be  given." 

As  the  field  is  larger  and  the  work  more  expensive  in  the  West,  so 
the  problem  is  the  greater.  "  What! "  said  a  Nevada  statesman  to  me 
the  other  day,  "  You  ask  for  1  per  cent  of  the  income  of  the  State  for 
your  annual  support?"  "Yes,"  I  replied;  "and  how  large  a  per  cent 
of  that  State  income  is  being  devoted  to  scientific  research  year  by 
year  and  you  never  question  the  usefulness  of  the  expenditure?" 
And  another  intelligent  man  not  long  ago  queried  whether  in  the 
course  of  a  few  years  the  work  would  not  be  completed  and  the  ex- 
pense stopped.  How  difficult,  then,  is  this  problem  of  the  creation 
of  historical  consciousness  which  shall  demand  that  present  history 
shall  be  recorded  as  well  as  the  past  recovered. 

The  Western  States  are  in  all  stages  of  progress  with  respect  to 
such  a  consciousness.  Some  have  gone  far  out  on  the  skirmish  line 
and  are  bravely  holding  their  own  against  all  enemies.  Some,  as 
California,  have  a  tower  of  strength  in  the  support  of  large  universi- 
ties. In  other  sections  the  universities  are  poor  and  feel  unable  to 
divide  their  attention  and  resources  between  scientific  and  historical 
research,  or,  while  fostering  that  part  of  history  which  concerns  the 
natural,  the  physical,  and  the  applied  sciences,  they  are  forgetful  of 
that  residuum  which  remains  and.  which  has  not  yet  been  absorbed 
into  the  domain  of  political  science',  economics,  and  sociology. 

But  all  the  Western  States  have  alike  a  great  future  work  to  per- 
form in  these  first  and  second  stages  of  our  renaissance — in  the  creat- 
ing of  historical  consciousness,  in  the  collecting  and  preserving  of  his- 
torical data.  Should  we  not  seek  to  aid  one  another  in  this  work? 


208  AMERICAN  HISTORICAL  ASSOCIATION. 

Mr.  Himes  last  year  in  his  inspiring  address  on  the  unity  of  the  Pacific 
coast  dwelt  upon  that  unity  in  the  past.  I  to-day  would  emphasize 
the  need  of  unity  for  the  future.  I  do  not  mean  that  the  branch  any 
more  than  the  national  association  should  make  large  collections.  I 
do  not  believe  in  any  one  general  depository.  Each  State  is  an  en- 
tity in  itself,  and  this  for  geographical  as  well  as  for  political  reasons. 
Each  State  has  expressed  its  life  in  a  little  different  form  from  any 
other  State.  Therefore  it  has  a  history  of  its  own  and  is  entitled  to 
its  own  collection. 

But  what  we  may  and  should  have  in  common  is  a  united  purpose 
to  use  our  mutual  influence  to  aid  in  lessening  the  difficulties  of  our 
individual  work.  And  then,  when  the  State  collections  have  been 
made  and  interpreted  by  the  historical  workers  in  the  States,  should 
it  not  be  the  function  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Branch  to  distil,  from  the 
alembic  of  the  parts,  a  something  in  the  way  of  history  which  shall 
characterize  the  development  of  the  whole  coast,  and  to  interpret  that 
product  to  the  Nation  at  large  and  to  the  world?  For,  next  to  its  work 
of  aiding  the  parts  of  its  organization,  it  would  seem  to  me  to  be  the 
function  of  this  branch  to  interpret  the  West  to  the  East;  to  con- 
tribute to  the  East  not  merely  the  finished  product  of  our  research, 
but  to  convey  to  that  East  as  w^ell  some  sense  of  the  difficulties  of  our 
field  and  of  its  richness  alike.  To  be  in  New  York  at  the  annual  meet- 
ing last  winter  was  to  realize  how  small  is  that  comprehension  to-day. 
As  eastern  capital,  seeking  extraordinary  dividends,  invests  in  west- 
ern industrial  enterprises,  so  perchance  some  day  may  eastern  his- 
torical capital;  thus  perchance  may  the  Nation  at  large.  What  the 
Morrill  Act  has  done  for  scientific  research,  that  may  some  future 
legislative  act  do  for  history. 

As  for  Nevada,  mayhap  I  have  painted  you  a  dark  picture.  But 
for  Nevada  there  is  hope.  Her  people  are  not  less  gritty  and  strong 
and  resourceful  than  the  sagebrush  which  covers  her  plains  and  her 
mountains.  Her  progress  has  been  against  fearful  physiographic al 
odds.  We  marvel  that  she  has  come  so  far  as  she  has.  The  decline 
of  her  prison  population  and  the  lack  of  increase  in  her  orphan  asy- 
lum would  seem  to  point  to  more  stable  conditions.  The  political 
progress  she  has  made  with  respect  to  antigambling  laws,  primary 
election,  referendum  and  recall,  etc.,  would  indicate  that  social  con- 
sciousness is  rapidly  being  developed  in  spite  of  isolation.  As  she 
seeks  to  establish  more  permanent  industries  in  connection  with  her 
mines,  she  gives  promise  of  less  transient  population.  She  is  still  a 
missionary  field  in  certain  respects.  But  the  time  may  yet  come 
when  like  England  of  old  which  was  christianized  from  the  conti- 
nent, and  which  in  its  turn  converted  Germany,  so  Nevada  may  yet 
send  her  apostles  to  enrich  other  fields  as  in  times  past  she  has  sent 
her  bullion  to  build  San  Franciscos  and  New  Yorks. 


